Songs of Experience Discussion

[Headache in a Suitcase]

That's the writer guessing that it "could.". Certainly not U2 saying it will.

The band clearly plan on releasing 2 albums, and quite possibly a third. Things can obviously change with this band... and anyone who completely dismisses the chances that anything beyond this album could be scrapped is ignoring the past... but at the same time, this is clearly different than the past because it appears that they've actually completed the plan ahead of time, rather than just say they're going to do it.

 

[TonyH]

I'm predicting they'll change the name of their next album to, "It Took A Thousand Years to Get here".

 

[Niceman]

That's the writer guessing that it "could.". Certainly not U2 saying it will.

The band clearly plan on releasing 2 albums, and quite possibly a third. Things can obviously change with this band... and anyone who completely dismisses the chances that anything beyond this album could be scrapped is ignoring the past... but at the same time, this is clearly different than the past because it appears that they've actually completed the plan ahead of time, rather than just say they're going to do it.

Exactly. There could be any reason why things don't end up happening, but it seems clear that they plan on them happening.

 

[ozeeko]

SOE could be nearly done or finished already, but you never know...depending on how well SOI goes...it is very possible they'll go back to the drawing board if SOI doesn't deliver.

 

[Niceman]

SOE could be nearly done or finished already, but you never know...depending on how well SOI goes...it is very possible they'll go back to the drawing board if SOI doesn't deliver.

How many millions of downloads are they up to? I'd say they're pretty happy with the performance so far.

 

[ozeeko]

If they land a hit song then sky's the limit. If not, don't be surprised if they start tinkering.

 

[Nick66]

SOE could be nearly done or finished already, but you never know...depending on how well SOI goes...it is very possible they'll go back to the drawing board if SOI doesn't deliver.

But how to they measure at the moment if the record is "delivering"? Clearly you really can't judge by the number of streams and downloads (the vast majority of which are streams, we know that) when it's being given away free. That's not the best indicator of whether a record is liked when someone clicking on a track and listening for a few seconds is being counted as "accessed". And many people have their iPhone and iTunes set to auto download new stuff in their library. So I'm not sure that 30+ million figure is telling the band everything they need to know...unless, like many fans, their fooling themselves that it means all those people love the record.

I guess they'd just be watching how it's trending on social media, radio play, and how people react to the new material in concert...which obviously we won't know about for a while. I'm not sure they'd go back to the drawing board....I think this is about as sold a collection of mainstream pop/rock songs this version of U2 is capable of delivering. If people don't like this, what else can U2 do?

 

[ozeeko]

Depends on if they choose to release it before the tour or during/after.

If the new songs aren't taking off in concert then they are likely to second guess SOE.

 

[ozeeko]

I don't think they're going to be satisfied with downloads. Come on, this is U2. If the entire stadium isn't singing one of the choruses back to them, the albums a failure.

 

[Niceman]

Depends on if they choose to release it before the tour or during/after.

If the new songs aren't taking off in concert then they are likely to second guess SOE.

I can't imagine that these songs won't take off live.

I guess it all become more interesting if they play a chunk of them acoustic, as Bono suggested they might.

 

[purpleblackeye]

album 60% done means we won't see it until 2016.

 

[ozeeko]

ATYCLB had Beautiful Day. BOMB had Vertigo. NLOTH had....exactly. Failure.
They just need that one hit to hang the entire album on.

 

[Niceman]

I don't think they're going to be satisfied with downloads. Come on, this is U2. If the entire stadium isn't singing one of the choruses back to them, the albums a failure.

All true.

The question of downloads verses purchases is an interesting one. Paradoxically, the fuss raised from giving away 33 million (and counting) downloads could sell them a lot of copies of the expanded version of the album. They did only sell 1 million of so copies of NLOTH in the U.S. It doesn't seem an impossible mountain for them to hit that when all is said and done - even though they just gave the album away! LOL

If as high as 5% of the people who download the album want the expanded edition..... well then that could be a lot of sales!

 

[RobertWiscy]

If as high as 5% of the people who download the album want the expanded edition..... well then that could be a lot of sales!

I think the listeners number is now 38 million as of a couple days ago and bound to go higher, maybe approach 50 million by Oct. 13?

And the 5-10% range -- that's the traditional marketing formula anyway as long as I've known, isn't it? Yes, 5% of 50 million would be pretty big.

 

[The_acrobat]

When does everyone think we'll see SOE? Bono says it's a year, year and a half away.

Best case scenario: out in time for Christmas 2015.

Likely scenario: out in time for the 2nd part of the tour in early 2016

Worst case scenario: 3-4-5-6 years from now!!! It happens... It happened!


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[BVS]

It will come out during the tour, similar to Zooropa. I think this will be a long tour, they'll want new songs mid tour to change things up.


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[dan_smee]

It will come out during the tour, similar to Zooropa. I think this will be a long tour, they'll want new songs mid tour to change things up.


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Bono was more definitive in the Time article than he has been in radio. The new format is due in 18 months, and SOE will be the first album using it.


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[Nick66]

Bono was more definitive in the Time article than he has been in radio. The new format is due in 18 months, and SOE will be the first album using it.

I tend to agree that it will come, but it will be a while.

I've heard talk about the promise of this kind of "new format" for some time. Apple's alluded to it before, as has Bono and other music industry types. I think basically what it comes down to is some kind of app that has the music, plus video content, lyrics, alternate versions, interactive artwork, band info, hyperlinks, etc. all rolled into one app that gets updated. Again, Bono's already mentioned some of those things.

Color me skeptical about whether it will "save" the music industry. Speaking personally, I would not care about any of that, all I care about is the music. As it is I flip through the liner notes once then never look at them again. And I listen to music for music itself, either to zone to it or to accompany something else I'm doing. But playing with an app is not how I'm interested in interacting with my music. I'm sure I'd get bored with it in 3 minutes.

As far as piracy goes, Blu-Ray discs already do all those things for movies and people still pirate movies. And 5 seconds after someone creates and app like this, someone else will figure out a way to pirate it.

In any event, if this is how U2 intends to roll out SOE with Apple, as an app (and I'm assuming Apple is getting more for their 100 mil than giving away SOI for free) then yeah, it could be a while.

As far as U2 revolutionising the music industry...I've heard that before...

 

[lazarus]

Color me skeptical about whether it will "save" the music industry. Speaking personally, I would not care about any of that, all I care about is the music.

I care. As it relates to the band, if this goes over well it could bring them back a lot of the goodwill they lost in certain circles these last couple weeks.

For one, you have the artistic angle with the interactivity and the visual component. Then you have the part about smaller artists making more money for their work, and knowing how many people in various cities around the world are listening to it.

So it's a two-pronged thing that could be a big deal, and if they're the biggest artist spearheading it they will get a lot of credit for its success.

 

[mikal]

I care. As it relates to the band, if this goes over well it could bring them back a lot of the goodwill they lost in certain circles these last couple weeks.



For one, you have the artistic angle with the interactivity and the visual component. Then you have the part about smaller artists making more money for their work, and knowing how many people in various cities around the world are listening to it.



So it's a two-pronged thing that could be a big deal, and if they're the biggest artist spearheading it they will get a lot of credit for its success.

Agreed. If they somehow become responsible for the smaller artists getting paid I could see this being a huge turnaround in their perception from some of the Indie publications that automatically write them off. For the sake of the industry I hope this works.


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[Nick66]

I care. As it relates to the band, if this goes over well it could bring them back a lot of the goodwill they lost in certain circles these last couple weeks.

For one, you have the artistic angle with the interactivity and the visual component. Then you have the part about smaller artists making more money for their work, and knowing how many people in various cities around the world are listening to it.

So it's a two-pronged thing that could be a big deal, and if they're the biggest artist spearheading it they will get a lot of credit for its success.

I hear you...and I didn't mean to imply that because I'm not interested in it that it's a bad idea without merit. I'm sure a lot of people would find all those features quite cool.

That said, I'm not sure how having to now have resources and skills to create an app to compete with the likes of U2, who have unlimited resources, is going to help smaller artists (of course, the playing field is hardly level now). But yeah, the music industry is going to have to sort itself out.

 

[dan_smee]

I hear you...and I didn't mean to imply that because I'm not interested in it that it's a bad idea without merit. I'm sure a lot of people would find all those features quite cool.

Especially if they involve alternate versions, behind the scene videos etc. this holds great interest for me, even for bands I only have a passing interest in.


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[Nick66]

Especially if they involve alternate versions, behind the scene videos etc. this holds great interest for me, even for bands I only have a passing interest in.

The one thing I'd really be into would be the ability to download the audio of complete concerts shortly after the show ends. I know some bands are already doing some variation of this, but an app that just let you do it with a click would be incredibly cool.

 

[dan_smee]

The one thing I'd really be into would be the ability to download the audio of complete concerts shortly after the show ends. I know some bands are already doing some variation of this, but an app that just let you do it with a click would be incredibly cool.

This. Maybe you get one or two free concerts with the app, and the ability to purchase more or something?


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[Nick66]

This. Maybe you get one or two free concerts with the app, and the ability to purchase more or something?

Either that or just give the basic app away free and allow people to buy the shows a la carte from within the app as they become available. And maybe if you attend a show your ticket has a one-time use code that allows you to download that show for free, or at discounted price.

Of course, piracy would be an issue, and all the shows would end up online, but that's going to happen no matter what. The technology is already there to record and master the shows as they're going on (I actually think U2 records all their shows), so why not make them available for purchase and download to the people who wanted them?

 

[dan_smee]

Songs of Experience announced. Maybe?

Either that or just give the basic app away free and allow people to buy the shows ala carte from within the app as they become available. And maybe if you attend a show your ticket has a one-time use code that allows you to download that show for free, or at discounted price.

Of course, piracy would be an issue, and all the shows would end up online, but that's going to happen no matter what. The technology is already there to record and master the shows are they're going on, so why not make them available for purchase to the people who wanted them?

Yep. 5 bucks a show, free for attendees would mean that they would more than recover costs - as you say they are recording them anyway. I suppose they have been hesitant because of errors etc, but people record them anyway. Apparently matchbox 20 used to sell a USB with the show on it within ten minutes of it ending from merch stands for like 10 bucks. This would be a much better model.


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[angelordevil]

It will come out during the tour, similar to Zooropa. I think this will be a long tour, they'll want new songs mid tour to change things up.


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[macawaca]

Songs of Experience

In the Q magazine article they state that SOE is 70% finished?

 

[mikal]

Chris Broussard also says he's 75% positive that the album will be out within 2 years.


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[Harry Vest]

Chris Broussard also says he's 75% positive that the album will be out within 2 years.


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2 YEARS?!?!?!?!?!?!?

I thought it was out almost immediately...as in before or during the upcoming tour!!!

Damn.